[foxylady]

Hi All

My baby is due for her first service in November. Hubby wants to know what we should be expecting to pay for this (don't want to be ripped off) and also would you advise going to the dealer or a private garage? Too technical for me - I just love driving her!!!!

 

[Barchetta]

If its new and you want to keep the value I would always go to a main stealer whilst the warranty is still running.

I do know from speaking with my service manager who stated that if the car was not serviced by a main dealer during the validity of the warranty from the factory then the warranty would be null and void.

If you still have the car after three years then IMHO you are better off going to a specialist rather than a main stealer as the warranty is gone and the independents are a lot lot cheaper.

I have just had my first service and it was £198 sterling. Not bad for an oil and filter change and the once over.......not.

It did come back super clean inside and out and there was only 1 mile on the clock for the roadcheck.

I dont know if it differs up and down the country.

 

[foxylady]

that's great, thanks for the advice.

 

[gb110430]

expensive , i emailed the salesman and asked whether he would do first service for free at crewe and he agreed.

 

[Rathbod]

"that if the car was not serviced by a main dealer during the validity of the warranty from the factory then the warranty would be null and void".

Could I clear up this statement, your vehicle warranty will not be "null and void" if you undertake the serviceing during warranty outside of the franchised dealer network. Barchetta, if this service manger is advsing you this he is adivisng you wrongly and if he applied this in his dealership he would in fact be in breach of the law.

I hasten to add however that the responsibility will rest with the owner to ensure the service books are stamped, and further that the service was in accordance with the manufacturers recommendations using gununine VW parts.

I also add my personal note, if the car is still under warranty the owner will have invested quite a great deal of money in buying it, and surely you would want those with the specialist knowledge to service it. Even though a thing called "the block excemption regulations" made the manufacturers responsible for making training courses and material available to non franchised garages as they do to their franchise ones, none franchised dealers do not generally go on VW training courses and they are unlikely to get/have VW technical circulars giving up-to-date information on the VW products.

Derek

 

[nail-z-gull]

I paid around £130 for my first 12 month 'oil change' service. Didn't think that was too bad from the dealer I bought the car from.

She's in for the 2 year/20k service at the end of this month - and I doubt that will be nearly as palatable. *shudder*

 

[Barchetta]

Rathbod, Im afraid you are wrong.

I have looked at my warranty and it is there in black and white.

It states that during the the warranty period all servicing must be undertaken using oem parts and by vw technicians hereby authorised by the manufacturer.

I spoke with assistance,non franchised dealers are not sent circulars or updates on vehicles so therefore they are not factory authorised, therefore the warranty is null and void.

 

[neh321]

Rathbod, Im afraid you are wrong.

I have looked at my warranty and it is there in black and white.

It states that during the the warranty period all servicing must be undertaken using oem parts and by vw technicians hereby authorised by the manufacturer.

I spoke with assistance,non franchised dealers are not sent circulars or updates on vehicles so therefore they are not factory authorised, therefore the warranty is null and void.

Rathbod's not wrong Barchetta, whatever it states in the service book!

That certainly used to be the case but manufacturers CANNOT refuse to honour a warranty just because the car wasn't serviced by a VW dealer during its warranty; that would be illegal.

However, the parts used by an independent must be either genuine VW parts or parts of a similar quality otherwise the warranty CAN be voided, and the workmanship must also be up to the same standard.

Hence it is a risk going to a non-franchised dealer, but if you have confidence in one (and I know of at least one around here who is just as good as the Main Dealer AND uses genuine VW parts only) then there is no reason whatsoever why you shouldn't use him rather than pay the high VW stealer prices!

Having said that, although I use the non-franchised dealer for my (old!) Polo runabout I only use the Main Dealer for my Eos! So I don't take the risk, and I must say they have been extremely helpful so I don't want to risk upsetting them!

 

[neh321]

As a rider to my above comments I understand it could all change again as the EU are busy moving the goalposts once more. If what I have read is correct then in the next year or two it is again going to be impossible for anyone other than a Main Dealer to service any cars at all!

There is however going to be a big backlash from garages and it may be the EU will have to tone down their approach. I can't see if coming off myself. It would push up costs for everyone who runs a car, would lead to closures and redundancies amonst the independents and is really not good for anyone except the Dealers themselves. It's the EU with more nonsensical legislation.

 

[Rathbod]

First service

"Rathbod, Im afraid you are wrong."

Barchetta, fully understand your response if that is what is in your service book, but (lets be quite specific and sure) if it is "the" manufacturers warranty, not a bought in one, say on a used vehicle, my note earlier this morning is correct.

The folloiwng Web IP addresses may assist in reassuring you

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/general-advice/car-servicing-and-repair-faqs.html

This site (above) is the Q&A's on the AA, scroll down to the question "Do I have to get my car serviced by a main dealer?"

http://www.smmt.co.uk/consumeraffairs/dsp_faq.cfm?catid=914&fid=20&fid1=&fid2=&maincatid=913&sid=136&tsid=135&cacatid=P_3360&chosenqa=263#263

This site is the comsumers advice section at the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders).

By the way the last Web site, again just to hopefully re assure you, is the VW on line details of the warranty on their cars.

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/warranty/factory/terms

You will note they advise of having the vehicle serviced in accordance the manufacturers recommendation.

Hope this helps

Derek

 

[SiJ2000]

Assuming Rathbod is correct, which I believe he is... You could try this place... My sister swears by them:

http://www.rac-london.co.uk/

I will be using them once my service plan runs out... (I have a main dealer service plan which I bought when I got the car)...

 

[Rathbod]

Hi Simon

Yes I have rather "shot myself" in the foot, with my new Eos (I was hoping to pick up today, but I am now told will be next week somtime) I took on the service plan. So I am also locked into a VW dealer.

Derek

 

[SiJ2000]

It's fine, don't worry... I am very happy with my service plan!

I use Citygate in Colindale and they aren't like most other dealers... The engineers are really nice and it's open from like 6am to 10pm!! They even open 10-4 on Sundays!!!

 

[Eos_Up]

I took my Eos into my dealer a couple of weeks ago (primarily to have the top seals serviced.) The car had 5000 miles on it. The service manager told me he knew nothing about doing the seals, but he would check on it. When the car was finished, he told me about the stuff that I would have to buy elsewhere and do myself.

I almost fell over when I saw the bill ($75). Normally I pay around $25 for an oil service and filter. One of the reasons it was so high was that they put in synthetic oil @ $8 a quart. And of course, they gave me a piece of paper that stated they checked the brakes, tire pressure, windshield fluid, etc. I guess that was to make me think $75 was legit. Interesting enough, about a week later I get a low tire pressure warning and it turned out all 4 tires were low (slightly under 30 PSI) with the recommended pressure 34 PSI

Anyone know if VW recommends synthetic oil?

 

[tishysmith]

Im furious! My first service at VW Wakefield where we got the car was 308 pounds!!!!! Have we been ripped off or what!?!?

Trish

 

[Barchetta]

Well I am afraid that is what my servive book and warranty document states.

Perhaps you could inform me of the page number where it states that this is incorrect, and i dont mean a third parties comment such as the RAC/AA as we all know that means nothing.

EU Ruling 1375.887.354.1 states that for a works to be complete the parts must be recognised by the OEM producer and the technician must have the relevant skills to affix such parts. The maunfacturer states that the technician must be recognised by the factory and be competent on all engineering updates and for a warranty claim this must be verified by an authorised technician of the factory, this includes technical updates on the model.

So no technical update, work carried out....warranty void.

To appease myself I again rang assistance and they confirmed that if they did not receive the maintenance circulars, they are not approved technicians and the warranty is void.

The AA/RAC can say what they want but they are not the law,purely advisers.

Please feel free to prove me wrong, if you do then I save money and my custom goes elsewhere.

Im not being awkard, rather than post web links why not call assistance and then report on what they state like I did.

Also, why would my warranty differ from anyone elses? Am I the only one that has this written in the service book.

Why not all have a read through then if you cant find it I will give you the page number.

 

[MarkAlan]

Eos_Up,

That's a fair price in the US. The first service is basically an oil change. I have seen posts on the web of people paying anywhere from $68 to over $200. $75 seems reasonable based other sites talking of this issue and the 2.0 engine we have in the US.

Synthetic oil is mandatory. You will find that in your manual. Don't let anyone try to put anything but synthetic oil in your car...and be aware that some oils in the US market that are marked 'synthetic' are a blend. Don't use these as well.

Regarding your seals, if I were you, I would try to figure out if your dealer actually has a trained Eos technician. There are still some dealers out there that have not sent any of the techs to appropriate training to deal with the roof.

My dealer started to give every Eos owner a cleaning and lubricating packet at every visit. They also have cleaned and lubed my seals without charge during my 10,000 service visit. I did ask them to do it, expecting some nominal fee and was pleased they didn't charge.

 

[silvershadow]

What an interesting can of worms this discussion has opened up.

There appears to be significant variations between various countries. I think this is largely the result of the intent and scope of Trade Practices and Consumer Protection legislation in each country. In Australia, our Trade Practices legislation is a national responsibility whereas our consumer protection is a State responsibilty. The main determinants of our protection are restraint of trade and anti-competitive behaviour.

In my home state of NSW, a manufacturer cannot reject a warranty claim on the basis that servicing has not been undertaken by a franchised dealer/service centre. If the servicing has been done by a licensed repairer using genuine factory parts, it is extremely difficult for the manufacturer to reject a warranty claim. If a warranty claim is refused for non-factory parts or other reasons; the owner has access to quick, low-cost and informal Consumer Claims Tribunal proceedings which have the authority to decide the matter.

As a consequence of our laws, we have an independent franchised service centre organisation named Ultra Tune which regularly advertises advising new car owners that using their services will not affect their new car warranty. It is an interesting coincidence that franchised/authorised dealer servicing costs have become more competitive since this advertising commenced. The common practice of authorised service centres sub-contracting warranty work to independent specialists had gone on for years beforehand so they really didn't have a substantial defence against allowing independents to undertake routine servicing during the warranty period.

My regret is that we have not adopted the US legislation which requires manufacturers to provide regularly updated workshop manuals and service bulletins which are accessible by owners and independent workshops. This is done at quite a reasonable cost through a number of specialist outlets. It is my understanding that the only manufacturers exempt from this requirement are Ferrari and Rolls-Royce because of their limited production numbers. At least I can download these through the internet when needed however the cost is inflated by our exchange rate.

 

[cb391]

I took my Eos into my dealer a couple of weeks ago (primarily to have the top seals serviced.) The car had 5000 miles on it. The service manager told me he knew nothing about doing the seals, but he would check on it. When the car was finished, he told me about the stuff that I would have to buy elsewhere and do myself.

I almost fell over when I saw the bill ($75). Normally I pay around $25 for an oil service and filter. One of the reasons it was so high was that they put in synthetic oil @ $8 a quart. And of course, they gave me a piece of paper that stated they checked the brakes, tire pressure, windshield fluid, etc. I guess that was to make me think $75 was legit. Interesting enough, about a week later I get a low tire pressure warning and it turned out all 4 tires were low (slightly under 30 PSI) with the recommended pressure 34 PSI

Anyone know if VW recommends synthetic oil?

oil used must be VW approved 502.00 rated and is synthetic. Two main brands being used here is Castrol Syntec 5w40 and Mobil 1 0w40. My dealer uses the Castrol and charges $7 a quart which is about what the local discount auto parts place charges. If you didn't like the $75 5k service you won't like the 10k which is double that and the 20k which cost me over $400.

 

[cb391]

In the US we have requirement similar to Australia. As long as we have documentation that show that the service is being done by a legitimate service place at the VW's required maintenance point using VW quality filters and oil it's okay. Obviously if a real repair is needed then the car has to fixed by a VW dealer.